Warhammer 40,000 species

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The Warhammer 40,000 game, and consequentially the fictional universe, is made up of many races and species. Many of these species are represented in the actual game through armies and figurines. However, not all of the species that are important to the game and its storyline are available as an army. Instead, these 'extra' species are written about within the codexes, rulebooks and other literature available for the game in order to build up a more elaborate storyline and to explain the current state of the game better. The major ones are:

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[edit] Human

The same familiar species, Homo sapiens, has in the millennia passing after the present day spawned a number of minor subspecies referred to (somewhat pejoratively) as 'abhumans'. The vast majority of humans in the galaxy are nominally citizens of the Imperium of Man. It was created by the Emperor, an extremely powerful psyker, whose life is sustained artificially since the mortal wounds he suffered at the culmination of the Horus Heresy. The Emperor is now worshipped as a deity by the citizens of the Imperium. Currently the Imperium is controlled by a ruling body of 12 of the most influential and powerful men in the galaxy, collectively known as the High Lords of Terra. The Capital of the Imperium is Holy Terra. The Imperium features a wide variety of organisations and affiliations, which are represented in the game by a selection of five playable armies:

Example of Imperial Guard units
Example of Imperial Guard units

The other major factions of the Imperium that are not playable as armies in their own right include:

Many of these non-playable forces can be represented using existing forces; White Dwarf has in past done features on armies such as a Custodian Guard force created using Space Marine rules and a Mechanicus force based upon Imperial Guard. Others, like the Arbites and the Officio Assassinorum, function as allies for armies that do exist, such as an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor bringing along a Culexus Assassin.

There are also humans that are outside of the Imperium, for reasons such as never having been integrated, worlds being cut off from the Imperium for generations, having rebelled against the Imperium, or just being overlooked. The only non-Imperial humans playable in the game are:

  • Gue'vesa: humans who have joined the Tau Empire and now fight alongside them 'for the Greater Good.'

It should be noted, though, that Games Workshop does not produce any miniatures specifically identified as Gue'vesa, but does provide some examples on its website of how Gue'vesa can be converted from Imperial Guard and Tau Fire Warrior models.

[edit] Chaos

Example of a Chaos Terminator
Example of a Chaos Terminator

The forces of Chaos consist of those humans who rebelled against the Emperor during the Horus Heresy, as well as renegades and corsairs who turned in the 10,000 years since then, and their daemonic allies.

[edit] The Eldar

Eldar are an ancient, elf-like race, who once were the dominant force in the galaxy. However, at some time in the past (most commonly conjectured to be just prior to the Humans' Great Crusade) the Eldar race experienced a dramatic catastrophe known to them as The Fall. The Eldar's highly psychic nature as a species had caused significant repercussions in the Immaterium, ultimately resulting in the genesis of a new Chaos entity known as Slaanesh. The Eldar's close link with the new god resulted in a massive intrusion of the Immaterium into the material realm (now known as the Eye of Terror) and the instantanous destruction of many billions of Eldar; the majority of their species. There are four main factions of Eldar:

  • Eldar: those Eldar who fled before the Fall on massive ships known as Craftworlds.
  • Dark Eldar: those Eldar who have embraced the fall, and continue to live a hedonistic life in hiding from the Chaos God Slaanesh.
  • Exodites: Eldar who fled to the edge of Eldar space before the Fall and degenerated into a more primitive lifestyle.
  • Harlequins: a mysterious faction of the Eldar, who act out stories of the past from before the Fall. Live within the Immaterium, are highly adept warriors, and religiously guard the repository of Chaotic knowledge known as the Black Library.

[edit] Orks

The Orks are a warlike composite race of humanoids; properly known collectively as Orkoids. All the Orkoid species share a unique biochemistry incorporating a second DNA strand resembling that of Terran algae or fungi, and this trait manifests as an exceptionally tough and adaptable physiology featuring vivid green pigmented skin. The dominant species, Orks, are considerably larger and more muscular than either Humans or Eldar, and in comparison are highly aggressive and brutish. They are, quite often, mistakenly labelled as stupid, but do in-fact share the same intelligence of an average human. It is their more direct methods of problem solving, and lack of curiosity or philosophical tendencies that can make them appear unintelligent

The Gretchin (known as 'Grots' to the Orks) are far smaller and physically weaker, and much less aggressive, and as such are treated as a slave race by the Orks. They do however display considerable intelligence and are highly adept tinkerers, looters and thieves. Often thought of as cowardly (and often are), they can nevertheless show a highly vicious temperament when confronted, and like the Orks are not to be trifled with, particularly in numbers.

[edit] Other Major Species and Races

  • Necrons: an ancient race with unparalleled technology, entombed for countless millennia, who bitterly hate all life and wish to accumulate life energy for their C'tan masters.
  • Tau: a young race just entering the galactic scene, with an amazingly high degree of technological utilization.
    • Kroot: an avian, though generally flightless, race that serves as auxiliaries to the Tau and operates as mercenaries elsewhere.
    • Vespid: an insectoid race allied with the Tau.
  • Tyranids: a horde of bio-engineered beasts from another galaxy, operating under one hive mind, and built to kill and make more of their kind from the compounds they devour

[edit] Minor Species, Races, and Groups

Along with the major races and species, there are a number of smaller races and species. Not all of these are active within the game, but all play a part in the history and storyline of the game.

  • Abhumans: descendants of humans, modified in various ways by mutation and the environmental conditions on the planets on which they have evolved.
Includes:
  • Beastmen: a human sub-species characterised by bestial features, normally heads and legs.
  • Ogryn: a human sub-species characterised by larger muscles and smaller brains.
  • Ratlings: a sub-species of human who are short and specialize in sniping.
  • Squats: a race of short humanoids who are believed to have been destroyed by the Tyranids.
  • Caradochian: winged race often appearing as mercenaries.
  • Chuffian: use a characteristic Power Maul weapon. No other data is known.
  • C'tan: the race worshipped by the Necrons.
  • Demiurg: a race of short humanoids, allied with the Tau. May or may not be related to Squats.
  • Daemon: foul creatures made entirely of warp material. The favourite servants of the Chaos Gods.
  • Drugh: large larval invertebrates with advanced psionic capability. Stem from the world of Pyrus I.
  • Enslavers: parasitical warp-based lifeforms that look for psychic hosts to transform into living warp portals.
  • Galg: non-humanoid rumoured to be Tau-allies.
  • Galthite: xenos from the Oenorian Inner Systems.
  • Hrud: a rodent-like species.
  • Jokaero: resemble orangutans. They are famous for their instinctive technical brilliance.
  • Kathap: a race using what appears to be organic weaponry.
  • Khrave: alien mind-eaters.
  • K'Nib: described as "festering clawed fiends", have 10 limbs.
  • Lacrymole: a race of shapeshifters.
  • Loxatl: amphibian quadropeds who communicate through infrasound. Grey-skinned and foul-smelling. They are known to smell like rancid milk and mint.
  • Nicassar: a psychic race allied with the Tau.
  • Necrontyr: the race that became the Necrons.
  • Nekulli: little known about the Nekulli race, apart from their Whisperlance technology.
  • Old Ones: an ancient race who fought the C'tan.
  • Psy-Gore: from Perseus; makers of crystalline firearms.
  • Q'Orl : an insectoid species, whose empire is centred on the swarmworld of Loqiit.
  • Scythian: martial species devoted to the art of combat.
  • Slann: an ancient reptilian species, connected to the Old Ones.
  • Tallerian: reptiloid mercenary allies of the Tau.
  • Thyrrus : a squid-like race with colour changing skin.
  • Umbra : a species of floating spheres with a hard, black carapace.
  • Viskeon: huge muscled humanoid creatures, when part of their body is cut off, a fetus forms from it, feeding off its nutrients to eventually become a fully formed Viskeon.
  • Xenarch: an isolationist, warp-worshipping species from the Galactic north.
  • Zoat: large, strange, centaur-like creatures that were conquered by the Tyranids. The Zoats were used as a slave race for the hive mind and its followers, and many revolts by the zoats (brutally put down by the Tyranids) led to the near extinction of their race.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

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Warhammer 40,000
Forces of the Imperium
Forces of Chaos
Chaos Gods
Alien races
Dark Eldar · Eldar · Orks · Necrons · Tau · Tyranids
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